Christian Holiness Journal | Page 32 | a record of struggle and victory to know the mind of Christ

Not by Might

July 5, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

In the Star Trek movie, First Contact, one scene plays upon the contentious relationship between two of the regular characters, Worf and Riker. Worf, in command of the Defiant, a powerful, state-of-the-art warship that is a fraction of the size of the iconic Enterprise, beams on board Enterprise. Riker greets him with a taunting smile and delivers a back-handed compliment. “Tough little ship,” he says.

Worf replies with a scowl, “What do you mean little?”

——

The word “by” is a tough, little word. It is powerful. When unpacked, it is found to mean:

Identifying the agent performing an action.
The means by which something is achieved.
To go past or along.

This word, by, is perhaps the crux of today’s devotional, which is built around Galatians 5:16. If we don’t properly understand its meaning, we miss the point entirely.

Let’s take a look at the verse from the ESV:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

I have read that verse many times and, until recently, never gave it proper consideration.

My first thoughts are of a walk in a dark forest and being led by a beam of sunlight filtered through the canopy. That is not right, for that indicates that while I am walking, that light guides me. While that may be a nice thought, it is not, in this case, correct. It is more than guidance.

To understand the word by, we must take a look at the Greek word that is translated in to the English word. The word by is added to the translation to account for a variant of the word pneuma. That word is Greek for spirit, which -in this verse – means Spirit of God.

The word as found in this verse is pneumati, the ending indicates it is connected to another object or person; here the Spirit is connected to the one walking. The question is, how is the Spirit connected to the walker.

By example, we see the same word used in a few different ways:

Matthew 5:3 “poor in spirit…”

Mark 1:8 “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit…”

Ephesians 1:13 “sealed by the Spirit.”

Throughout the New Testament, we see that the first two English variations of the word, by, apply most often: the acting agent or the means by which action is taken. It is also fair to say that the word can also mean, “along side” or “together with.”

So let’s take a look at the Galatians 5:16 again with a better understanding of those definitions:

But I say, the Spirit is walking for you and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

But I say, allow the Spirit to power your walk, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

But I say, walk alongside the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

But I say, walk together with the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Any one of these alternative definitions give us a more complete understanding of holiness. It may only be achieved through the might of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Working My Way Back…?

July 4, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

An old disco song from the early 80s contained these lyrics:

I’ll be working my way back to you, babe, with a burning love inside

Yeah, I’m working my way back to you, babe, and the happiness that died

I let it get away

That old hit (written by Denny Randall and Sandy Linzer) could easily be made into a Christian song, but it would be so wrong. In the song, released by the Spinners in late 1979, the story teller boasts to his love that, even though he has cheated and emotionally abused her, he begs her forgiveness and will be “working my way back to you.”

Too often, Christians feel the same way. We promise God that we love Him and will never go back to our habitual sins (this that we love so much). Then, when we fall into the same old trap and sin again, we set out to work our way back into His favor.

The thing is, that doesn’t work for God. When Christ died for us, His sacrifice was for all our sin, past or future. Neither salvation nor sanctification is based on our merit. We can earn neither.

Then how does one become sanctified? Through faith, just like salvation. Read Hebrews 10:10:

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

We have been sanctified. Notice that the word “sanctified” is passive. We are not sanctifying ourselves; rather, God has sanctified us.

Because we are human, stuck in bodies, with imperfect minds, and fragile emotions, we are no more able to live a holy life than we are able to save ourselves from hell.

Why, then, so most Christians get hung up on how we live? Because we often confuse sanctification and holiness with discipleship. Nothing we do will get us into heaven. Nothing we do will make God love us more.

Likewise, so long as we are believers in Jesus Christ, nothing we do will lose is our spot in heaven, and nothing we do will cause God to live is less.

This may sound radical to many in A holiness church, but it is true. There is a place for holy living and Good sites call us to separate ourselves from the world, but we are unable to do either.

We cannot live a holy life. We can only have faith that Christ can live His life through me. Only He can sanctify me and only He can live a holy life through me.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Rescued From the Depths

July 3, 2018 by ChristianHolinessDaily

I was a 17 year old brat. My mom and step-dad had moved away, leaving me to sleep on a friend’s sofa. The youngest of five, and – by far – the most troublesome of five, it must have been a relief to them to be rid of me. No one knew how to handle me. With little or no adult supervision, a friend of mine begged me to go spelunking… cave exploring with him and a couple of other friends. “It will be great,” said Mike. “There is an underground river in it and a beach that you can only get to by swimming underwater, but no one has ever to reach it.”

“But, three or four people have died trying,” said Bobby. His brother nodded in agreement.

“If no one has ever been able to reach it, then how do you know it’s there?” I asked.

“It just is. We know,” they said.

We drove a couple hours south of town before turning off into the wilds of the Ozark Mountains. Squeezed between two hillsides, the opening was barely wide enough to slither through on my belly. Inside, though, one could sit up. In a lower cavern, I was able to stand up. The sound of distant rushing waters could be heard from below. We crawled through an even deeper passage into a large cavern. The room was cold and damp. At the far end, an underground river rushed beneath a ten-foot drop. A rope that had been tied from the top led into the river and disappeared beneath the black water.

“There it is,” said Mike, stripping down to his shorts. He plunged in, flashlight in hand.

I was frightened. The two other boys followed. I was the last one to dive in. I was afraid of being pulled under by the current and sucked into the rocks where the river again disappeared. I was more afraid, though, of being called chicken. Eventually, I, too, dove in. When I hit the water, my flashlight went out.

The boys, dived underwater. I was left in the dark. They followed the rope underwater and beneath a fallen stalactite. They came up just out of sight on the right of me. I could see the glow of their lights but, around a corner. I was left in the dark. They taunted me, and told me to follow them, but I had no idea how to get there, and no light to guide me. I could make out where they were, but just barely.

At last, I could take no more of their name-calling and dove under the water into icy darkness. I followed the curve of the slimy stalactite, eventually finding the rope, and came up some twenty feet away beyond a large rock. The little mud beach on which they sat was covered with old beer cans and the remains of several campfires. We were not the first ones to make this journey, as we had supposed. This had been a party spot for years.

I have often looked back at that day, and the many summer days after it that the four of us visited that cave with girls whom we wished to impress, and wondered why it is so easy to follow the taunts of peer pressure and so hard to follow the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. Why is it so easy to fulfill the desires of the body, and so hard to even hear the leading of the Spirit? Why is it so important to us to please the ego, while we neglect pleasing God?

That summer was all about answering the call of the cave. I learned the hard way that it is not always best to give into peer pressure. Several weeks and several visits later, some of us went back to the cave with girlfriends. The girl I was with lost hold of the rope and was swept away into the rocks before she was able to come up for air. She had a gash on her forehead and was barely able to make the swim out of the water and climb up the rope and out of the cave. Nearly an hour later, when we finally exited the cave, she was covered with blood from her head. The cut took several stitches. It was all her dad could do to keep from pummeling me. I deserved it and would have felt better had he done it.

God eventually took me to the place where I begged Him to fill me with His Holy Spirit and keep me from such temptations, but it took many more near-tragedies and many more years before I heeded His call. The cave has since been block off. The pile of rocks in front of it remind me that God no longer lets me go down to such depths. Instead, He protects me; by filling me with His Spirit, He has given me the strength to… well to live; for what I called living before, was really no life at all.